The Archers is a popular BBC radio Soap Opera, set in the fictional West Midlands county of Borsetshire. It follows the lives of the Archer family, and the other families living in the small, rural village of Ambridge.

It has been broadcast nationally since 1951 after starting its regional run in 1950, making it the longest running current soap opera in radio format and, since the cancelling of Guiding Light, the longest running soap in any format.

Crossover: With Gardener's Question Time, of all things. Eric Robson and some of the panel appeared in The Archers, and on Easter Sunday 2011 several Archers characters asked questions on GQT. The odd presenter from other BBC series has turned up As Himself or herself to open the village fete or something as well.

This particular subplot is so long and convoluted that the nice people at The BBCprovided a cheat sheet. It is still ongoing, and practicallya Long Runner in its own right - when editor Vanessa Whitburn told an interviewer in 2001 that it would be a major long-term Story Arc she wasn't kidding.

She repeated this claim about the repercussions of the 2nd January 2011's double-length Wham! Episode - only time will tell.